


Quite A Catch

by Setari



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Alien Culture, Bunny has a Fan Club, Courting Rituals, Culture Shock, Everyone has a crush on Bunny, M/M, Miscommunication, Mutual Pining, Oblivious E. Aster Bunnymund
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-22 03:29:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13158312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Setari/pseuds/Setari
Summary: Jack Frost is the latest in a long, long line of spirits who've tried to court the Easter Bunny. So far, no one has succeeded, but Jack isn't one to be put off by a little challenge. He is going to win Bunny's heart, no matter what it takes.





	Quite A Catch

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Cherish_Dipp](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cherish_Dipp/gifts).



> So, this pairing has been eating my brain these last... couple of weeks. I don't know what happened, I just watched Rise of the Guardians and then bam, Bunny/Jack everywhere. Probably not the weirdest thing I've ever shipped, to be fair, but I so did not see it coming.
> 
> Merry Christmas, everyone.

Jack had been unsurprised, but still a little disappointed to learn that the Guardians didn’t really celebrate Christmas. For North, Christmas was work time, not fun time, and by the time he got back from his rounds, he was exhausted, and just wanted to sleep for a week. Bunny objected on principle, and Tooth and Sandy weren’t bothered enough to put in the effort. They did, on the other hand, do New Years parties, and those were fun.

He’d honestly been expecting something more like a family gathering, but no. By that point, North had his enthusiasm back, and so the party ended up being _the_ event of the year in the spirit world. There were so many spirits packed into the now cleared floor of the Workshop that Jack had a hard time picking out individuals among the masses. It wasn’t even helpful to whip up a bit of a breeze to lift him above their heads, because about one third of the gathering could fly, too, and the air was just as packed as the ground.

“Jack!” Jack managed to turn just in time to catch Tooth before she ploughed into him and knocked them both out of the air. “Oh, it’s so good to see you! You’ve been so busy since Halloween! Are you enjoying the party?”

Jack snorted at the rush of words, and balanced himself lightly on the railing of one of the balconies. “Yeah, well, winter spirit.” He reminded her, then shrugged, and peered out into the mass of spirits, all mingling without violence, which was something of a feat and said more about North’s power and influence than pretty much anything else. “The party’s great. How many people are even here?”

“Oh, a few hundred. Not that many. Five hundred years ago, and there were enough spirits that North had to open up the courtyard and set up wards against the cold for the spring and summer spirits.” Tooth rambled, offering Jack a sad little smile. “I don’t know if there are just less of us, or if we’re all just getting more antisocial.”

Jack snorted. “Antisocial? You guys? Naw.” He teased.

Tooth’s crest flattened, and all her feathers rustled, sending a wash of embarrassed, iridescent colour over her entire body. “Ah, well, I suppose we haven’t been… getting out and about as much as we should have.” She acknowledged awkwardly, but she was still smiling, so Jack was pretty sure she’d taken his teasing in the spirit was intended.

He glanced back out over the crowd, eyes catching on a familiar figure surrounded by a cluster of spirits. “Not Bunny, though.” He acknowledged with a nod towards said spirit. “He’s such a grumpy, reclusive sour-bunny, I wouldn’t have thought he’d know that many spirits, but…” The crowd fluctuated, as more and more spirits, minor gods and goddesses, and even a few fae tried to get a moment to talk to the Easter Bunny.

“Well…” Tooth began, drawing the word out. Jack glanced at her, and her expression was thoughtful, but her crest was perking up again, so she was at least enjoying the conversation. She met Jack’s gaze and smiled with a hint of sharp, pointy little teeth. “He _is_ the Easter Bunny.”

Jack scrunched his nose up in confusion. He glanced down at Bunny, as if that might explain what Tooth meant. He was lounging against one of the pillars that supported the balconies, glass of something in one hand, having an animated discussion with… “Wait, is that Persephone?”

“And Hades, yes.” Tooth confirmed.

Jack goggled a little, because Persephone was well known for being temperamental and impatient with people, but there she was, happily chatting away with Bunny. And Bunny looked so at ease, no grumpy scowl, ears up and twitching attentively with the noise of the party, that relaxed slouch against the pillar… Jack tried not to stare, he really did, but, well, Bunny was charismatic and attention-grabbing even when he _was_ scowling and stressed out and angry. Seeing him like this was… a little bit entrancing, really.

Tooth giggled. Jack’s eyes snapped to hers, and he didn’t need to be a trickster spirit and the Guardian of Fun to recognise glee on someone’s face, even a face as not human as Tooth’s. “Oh, Jack.” She sighed fondly, even with some sympathy under her amusement, reaching out to pat his cheek. “Welcome to the Easter Bunny fan club.”

Jack ignored the fact that he was blushing frost onto Tooth’s fingers. “The… what now?”

“The Easter Bunny fan club.” Tooth repeated simply, withdrawing her hand and coming to perch primly on the railing next to Jack, hands folded in her lap. “He _is_ a recluse, you know, but he’s also the Herald of Spring, the Guardian of Hope, and a spirit of life and rebirth.” She paused and cast a sly, side-ways look at Jack. “And fertility.” She added, and Jack choked on thin air, feeling frost crackle across his face and down his neck and up to the tips of his ears. “He’s also an exceptional warrior, one of the oldest and most experienced spirits, a scholar _and_ an artist…” Tooth sighed a little wistfully. “And he does have very nice teeth…”

“Tooth…” Jack began slowly, staring at her in surprise. “Do you have a crush on _Bunny_?”

Tooth looked over at him with a very pointed expression that brought Jack’s blush back with a vengeance. “Jack.” She chided gently. “ _Everyone_ has a crush on Bunny.” She gestured at the scene they’d both been watching, and Jack did a double-take. Now that he was looking for it, he could see the way the nymphs were swooning, the way one of the incubi was blushing, and the way Hades and Persephone were standing a little too close to be entirely polite.

“Oh.” Jack said, feeling his heart sink a little. It wasn’t like he’d ever seriously thought he’d had a chance in the first place. After all, he and Bunny might be on better terms now, but one year of tentative friendship couldn’t possibly match up to a good fifty years plus of animosity. But the fact that he’d be in competition with major gods, sex demons, and even the _Tooth Fairy_ made it pretty clear that he didn’t have a hope.

“Oh, Jack.” Tooth sighed, and reached out again, this time laying her hand over his where it rested on the railing, aiding his balance. He glanced down, then back at her with his eyebrows raised, feeling touched by the obvious concern on her face. It improved his mood a great deal, enough to let him make a joke of it, which helped lift his spirits even higher.

“So, is there like a leaderboard? Do we score points depending on how long we spend with him or the intensity of the interaction?” He asked, and Tooth laughed, perking up when it became clear that Jack wasn’t going to let himself get depressed over Bunny. “Or is there a hierarchy, depending on who happens to be Bunny’s favourite?”

“No, no, nothing like that.” Tooth protested, still laughing. “I think the only hierarchy we have is the two halves; ‘rejected’ and ‘not rejected yet’.”

Jack paused, and raised an eyebrow at her. “You make it sound like rejection’s inevitable.”

“Several million years, and no one’s gotten anywhere with him.” Tooth informed him with a shrug. Jack must have made some sort of noise at that, because Tooth glanced at him in surprise. “You didn’t know how old Bunny is?”

“No! _Millions_ of years?!” Jack yelped.

“Oh, yes.” Tooth confirmed. “There aren’t many spirits who are older than him. Sandy, Mother Nature, the Man in the Moon, maybe. Pitch, I think. Although no one really likes to talk about that. Understandably.” Tooth shook that thought off, feathers rustling, and refocused on the topic of the conversation. She propped one delicate leg up, and braced her elbow on her knee, the better to rest her cheek against the heel of her palm and sigh wistfully. “It only adds to his charm, don’t you think?”

Grinning, Jack leaned his shoulder against one of the posts, and followed her gaze. “I guess so.” He agreed. The new knowledge certainly hadn’t made him any _less_ attracted to the giant rabbit. “But really, that long, and no one caught his eye? Not even just for a little while?”

Tooth shook her head. “No. He’s turned everyone down.” She paused thoughtfully, and smiled a little. “He’s always very polite about it, though. He goes out of his way to avoid bruising anyone’s feelings. I remember when I-” She paused, another wash of embarrassed colour reflecting off her agitated feathers, wings buzzing restlessly even though she was seated. “Well, I made a complete fool of myself over him when we first met.”

“Did you stick your fingers in his mouth, too?” Jack asked dryly.

“Oh, hush, you.” Tooth chided, punching him in the shoulder. Jack winced, not entirely playfully, because there was a remarkable amount of strength hidden in her delicate birdlike frame, and she didn’t always realise it. “No, I did not. But I did court him rather enthusiastically. He was very patient with me, let me get it out of my system, and then just… kept being my friend. No awkwardness at all.”

“Huh.” Jack mused.

“You should have seen him with North!” Tooth added brightly, and Jack turned wide, horrified-gleeful eyes on her. “Of course, you know North, he thinks the way to anyone’s heart is through their stomach. He kept trying to feed Bunny, all the time, and there were some dubious looks, like Bunny thought North had lost his mind, but he didn’t make a big deal out of it. Just… ignored it until North got over it.” Jack tried to imagine that, and while he could _well_ imagine North taking a shine to someone and trying to stuff them full of cookies and ice-cream as a way to win affection, he had a really hard time imagining Bunny _not_ losing his shit over it.

“Really? Bunny ignored it?” Jack asked dubiously. “No ranting? No freaking out?”

“Really.” Tooth confirmed. “Like I said, he’s always very polite about it, for him. Just doesn’t respond to it until you realise you’re not getting anywhere and give up.”

Jack looked back down at Bunny, now apparently being interrogated by a cluster of nymphs. He looked a little overwhelmed, perhaps, but he _was_ completely ignoring the adoring looks they were giving him. It was giving Jack all sorts of ideas.

“Oh, no, I know that look, Jack. What are you planning?” Tooth asked.

Jack gave her his best innocent look. Going by her doubtful expression, she hadn’t believed it for a good long while now. “Well, now that you’ve told me how difficult it is to actually get him to look twice, I’ve just _got_ to try my hand, don’t I?” He asked sweetly.

Tooth pressed her lips together, looking dubious but entertained. After a long moment where she was obviously trying to decide what to say, she relented with a sigh and a fond smile. “Well, good luck, Jack.” She decided.

“Thanks.”

* * *

“Hey, Cottontail.”

The height on that leap was actually really impressive. Jack was pretty sure Bunny had hit seven feet, and he landed in a battle-ready crouch, prepared to lunge with all the strength in those powerful legs, straight at Jack. Grinning, he finally let his bare toes drift low enough to brush the rich, loose loam of the Warren. A little crackle of frost spread over the earth, but courteously, Jack kept it as constrained as he could. He was here to _court_ Bunny, not piss him off.

“Jack, ya bloody menace!” Bunny huffed, dropping out of his fighting stance. He kept eyeing Jack warily, though. “How’d you get in here?”

“I just came to call on you!” Jack protested, entirely side-stepping the question. He offered a hopeful smile. “I mean, if that’s okay?”

Bunny’s nose twitched as he considered Jack for a moment, then he huffed, and crouched back down over the flowers that grew his special chocolate Easter eggs. “Yeah, as long as you don’t damage the plants.” He warned, but without any heat.

“Would I?” Jack asked, feigning offence.

Bunny side-eyed him like he wanted to say yes, but then his ears went back a little – just discomfort, or actual upset, Jack couldn’t quite tell – and he sighed. “Nah, not this close to Easter. But still, mind the flowers, yeah?”

“Sure thing, Bunny.” Jack agreed, propping his staff in the dirt and wrapping an arm around it, hand folded over the crook to lean his weight on it. “So hey, do you have a favourite flower?” He asked abruptly, since they were on the topic already. “And your googie flowers don’t count, by the way.”

For a moment, Bunny looked genuinely baffled. His ears twitched as he thought, hands still going through the motions of tending his flowers, but mind evidently elsewhere. “Dunno, mate. Golden wattle’s always been a favourite, but I’ve always been partial to edelweiss, too. And, well…” He paused, huffed, shook his head. “Never mind.”

“No, what?” Jack pressed.

Bunny shrugged. “And asters, I guess.” He admitted, although why that was embarrassing, Jack had no idea. “What about you?” Bunny returned, and Jack wished there was more genuine interest in that question than desperate deflection.

He shrugged. “I dunno. Snowdrops are pretty cute, I guess. Or… there are those little yellow ones that don’t mind my frost, they’re nice? I don’t know what they’re called.” He admitted, and Bunny rolled his eyes like that made him some sort of uncultured swine. It wasn’t like Bunny knew anything about the different types of ice and snow, so he had no room to judge.

On his next visit, after Easter, Jack brought flowers. He was no expert in flowers, not like Bunny was, but he’d put together a little bouquet of all the different flowers Bunny had mentioned last time. They had a little frost lining their petals by the time he reached the Warren, which was a bit annoying, but, well, Jack could only work with what he had.

This time, he didn’t try to startle Bunny, just flew down in front of him, and hopped up to perch on his staff as he held the flowers out in front of him, right under Bunny’s nose. He reared back a little, surprised, blinking at the flowers in confusion. “Um… what?” He asked.

“You said they were your favourite.” Jack reminded him. “So I got you some.”

Bunny was now blinking at _him_ in confusion, eyebrows all scrunched up as he tried to read Jack’s expression. He smiled hopefully, and Bunny returned his attention to the flowers. “You know I’ve got a whole Warren full of flowers, right, mate?” Bunny checked, but he was taking the flowers at the same time, so Jack didn’t count it as a total loss.

“Well, yeah, but these ones are from me.” Jack pointed out. “As a gift.”

“Right.” Bunny said, in the sort of tone that suggested he didn’t understand at all, but had decided that he didn’t actually want to ask. “Well, thanks, I guess.” He said eventually, with a shrug, and turned to find somewhere to put his new flowers.

Jack huffed, watching Bunny putter about. This, he supposed, was what Tooth had meant when she said he ignored it when people courted him, although Jack felt that ‘ignore’ was the wrong word. That suggested Bunny was doing it wilfully, but that, to Jack, had looked more like he hadn’t actually _realised_ what the flowers were for. Of course, he could have just been playing it up, like she said, as a way to discourage people without outright bruising any feelings, but… Well, Jack wasn’t a fan of being ignored. If Bunny wanted him to stop, he was going to have to outright _say so_.

That decided, Jack returned to the Warren regularly. Most often, he brought gifts, but sometimes he just came to spend time with Bunny. He dropped innuendos, and while Bunny laughed, it was always a ‘good joke’ laugh, not an ‘I’m flattered and maybe interested’ laugh. Jack brought Bunny little interesting trinkets he’d found, and got accused of being a magpie for his troubles.

After several months, he even tried being really blatant, and getting a bright red heart-shaped box of heart-shaped chocolates. Bunny just stared at with his nose twitching, his ears slowly lying flat against the back of his head. Which, really, _not_ the reaction Jack had been going for. “Something wrong?” Jack asked tentatively.

“Ah, well, it’s just…” Bunny began, awkwardly. His eyes flickered up to Jack’s, and away again with a wince. Jack swallowed, wondering if this was the point where he got soundly rejected. “I know you’re trying to be nice and all, Frostbite, but, uh… I… can’t eat chocolate.”

Jack _stared_. “Wait… can’t?” He asked carefully.

Bunny snorted wryly. “I guess you could say I’m allergic.”

Jack stared some more. “The Easter Bunny. Is allergic. To _chocolate_.” He repeated.

“Well, it won’t kill me, but the effects… aren’t pleasant.” Bunny explained, ears perking back up. Jack’s heart came down from where it had gotten lodged in his throat at that sign that maybe Bunny had just been _embarrassed_ , not weirded out by Jack’s infatuation. He gave up, and laughed. Bunny shoved him, and Jack didn’t bother trying to keep his balance, just let himself topple over and continued to laugh. “Don’t you have anything better to do than pester me?” Bunny asked, aggrieved.

“Nope. It’s summer.” Jack pointed out. “There’s not all that much for me to do in the southern hemisphere. I’ll drop a little snowfall here and there, maybe, but… well, that can happen without me putting any real effort in.”

“Huh. I guess so.” Bunny mused. “Work’s going to be picking up for you soon, though, I’d wager.”

“Oh, yeah. Autumn’s the busiest time. All those leaves to frost.” Jack needled with a grin.

Bunny rolled his eyes, but instead of a comeback, he just looked thoughtful. “You know, I always thought maple leaves looked pretty spiffy with a touch of frost on ‘em.”

Jack blushed frost all the way to the tips of his ears at the compliment. “Thanks, Bunny.” He chirped, and made a mental note to bring Bunny any maple leaves he was particularly proud of this year.

“Aster.” Bunny said abruptly. Jack made a confused sound, and Bunny shrugged. “My name’s Aster.” He explained, and Jack gave a silent ‘oh’ of understanding. That explained why Bunny – _Aster_ – found it embarrassing that one of his favourite flowers was the aster, at least.

The maple leaves got him a much better reception than before, but still, not quite what he was hoping for. Aster, on seeing the leaf Jack had in his hand, immediately went for his sketchpad. Jack was obviously really glad he liked it, but he’d been kind of hoping Aster would pay more attention to _him_ because of it, instead of getting lost in art world for hours. That being said, Aster was an amazing artist, and it kind of took Jack’s breath away, seeing how life-like the picture was.

“You put a lot of effort into this stuff, don’t you?” Aster asked abruptly.

Jack pursed his lips in thought. “Effort’s probably the wrong word.” He admitted with a shrug. “I enjoy it, so it’s not like it’s hard work or anything. But I spend a lot of time on it. Fractals are kind of amazing, you know, and really pretty.”

“Fractals, huh?” Aster hummed, smiling.

“Well, yeah. Snowflakes, frost patterns, they’re all fractal.” Jack pointed out.

“Entire universe is fractal, mate.” Aster replied, glancing over at him and grinning faintly. “You ever made a supernova fractal?” Jack tilted his head in curiosity, and Aster looked down at his sketch pad, then frowned. “Hard to draw in two dimensions, but-” Three hours later, head buzzing, Jack stepped out of the Warren and immediately set off to try out some of the ideas Aster had given him.

Not the success he’d wanted, but still _a_ success, so Jack had tried bringing flowers again. This time, he did a little investigating on his own, and came up with the _best_ idea ever. Aster didn’t seem to think it was so great. “They’re _frost asters_.” Jack explained in delight, when Aster looked confused at the gift.

At that, Aster snorted with exasperation, and took the flowers. “They’re frosted frost asters.” He pointed out, flicking one claw lightly against a frost-rimmed petal.

“They’re perfect.” Jack said haughtily.

Aster just shook his head, and went to plant them. Jack was really beginning to understand that whole ‘ignoring it until it goes away’ reputation Aster had. He wasn’t rejected Jack’s gifts, or his affection, but he seemed entirely blind to the fact that Jack wanted something a little more than platonic companionship. “Since you’re here, frostbite, you can help me with my new designs for my googies.” Aster said suddenly. Jack made a show of groaning in exasperation – he’d come to _play_ , not to _work_! – but he would never actually turn his nose up at time spent with Aster.

And to be quite honest, Jack liked looking at Aster’s designs. He was a good artist, and he loved what he did – even if he couldn’t enjoy the results, because, again, _allergic to chocolate, what the hell_ – and that passion was clear as day in his sketches.

“Oh, hey! Fractals!” Jack enthused, when he saw some of the new designs.

“Our talk the other week got me thinking.” Aster agreed. “What do you think?”

“They’re amazing, Aster.” Jack complimented, and Aster beamed. That wasn’t enough for him, though, he kept prodding Jack for more detailed critique, even though Jack had basically no idea what all went into painting the eggs. Some of the things Aster said about symmetry and colours went right over Jack’s head, but the fact that Aster was willing to listen to Jack’s inexperienced fumbling was flattering enough that he didn’t mind when Aster got distracted ranting about contrasts and patterns.

Christmas approached, and Aster got grumpy. It was all very bah humbug, and Jack thought it was kind of adorable. He didn’t want to annoy Aster too much, though, so he made sure to actually give him some space when he started snarling. He chose to go complain to Tooth. “You know how you said Bunny rejects everyone?” Jack asked by way of a greeting.

Tooth dropped three feet as her wings momentarily froze up in surprise. Then she flitted over to Jack with her hand over her heart. “Jack! You scared me! What was that about Bunny?”

“I think maybe he’s just _oblivious_.” Jack answered in frustration.

“After all this time? I don’t think _anyone_ can be that oblivious, Jack.” Tooth replied doubtfully. “I know Bunny can be a little out of touch, given how little he comes out of his Warren outside of Easter, but I don’t think even he could miss half the world’s spirits throwing themselves at him.”

“No, but… he doesn’t just ignore it when I flirt with him, or bring him gifts, or anything; he looks _confused_.” Jack protested. He could tell from her face that she wasn’t buying it. He rolled his eyes. “Look, just, benefit of the doubt here. What if he actually _doesn’t realise_ what I’m trying to say?”

Tooth gave him a vaguely helpless look. “Then I suppose you’d just have come right out and say it as plainly as you could.” Jack wrinkled his nose. That sounded very embarrassing, and he didn’t really want to stand there stuttering like an idiot over the whole thing. Besides, he was a trickster spirit, surely he could come up with something a little less straightforward.

* * *

North’s New Years party came around again, and once again, Jack couldn’t help but notice that Aster was constantly being trailed by at least half a dozen spirits vying for his attention. Jack thought it would be undignified to join them. Besides, he had a standing invitation to the Warren, while these other spirits only had the chance to interact with Aster at times like this. He could let them have a few hours, couldn’t he?

Snickering to himself, Jack hovered over the heads of some yeti, and out into the ballroom North had opened up, since apparently the Snow Queen had told him in no uncertain terms that it wasn’t a party without dancing. Jack just wanted to know why North even _had_ a ballroom in the Workshop. He perched on a windowsill to watch the dancers spinning about the room. There was North, dancing with the Snow Queen herself, and Persephone and Hades again, gazing soulfully into each other’s eyes, and Sandy, dancing by himself on a cloud of dream sand.

“There ya are, mate.”

Jack perked up, he couldn’t help it. “Bunny!” He greeted as the other Guardian slumped back to lean against the wall beside the window Jack was perched on. He looked more twitchy than he usually did at this sort of thing. “Was that Puck I saw pestering you earlier?”

“Yeah.” Aster confirmed with a sigh. His ears were laid back, but not flopped flat against his skull, which meant he was sad. No, they were still perky, just backwards instead of upright. Jack watched the way Aster was tapping his fingers against his arm, his arms crossed tightly over his chest, and how his nose was twitching repeatedly, and decided this was _stressed_ , rather than upset. “He’s a weird one.” Aster went on, and it took Jack a moment to remember what they were talking about, as occupied as he’d been trying to figure out a way to cheer Aster up.

“All the fae are weird.” Jack pointed out, and Aster grunted an acknowledgement, glowering out at the dancers. That gave Jack an idea. “Hey.” He began, grinning. Aster squinted at him suspiciously. “Wanna dance, Rabbiroo?”

“Wha- Do I- W- _No!_ ” Aster stammered, looking horrified.

For a moment Jack vacillated between hurt and amusement, but eventually the humour won. Aster just looked so… bewildered and horrified, like Jack had suggested he should torture kittens or something. “Aw, come on, it looks like fun!” Jack wheedled.

“It’s _indecent_.” Aster huffed, shoulders hunched.

Jack blinked, then looked out over the crowd. Nobody was naked – who wasn’t supposed to be, anyway – and he didn’t see anyone’s hands wandering. He looked back at Aster with one eyebrow quirked. “Are you stuck in the eighteen-hundreds or something? It’s only a waltz.”

“Only a- All that whirling and spinning and- and _circling_ , they look like they’re about to- to- right out in public!” Aster protested, sounding a little desperate as he covered his eyes with one hand.

Jack hopped a little closer to peer at his face, what little he could see of it with Aster clearly trying to hide behind his hand. “It really makes you uncomfortable, huh?” Jack asked, a little bewildered. He’d seen Aster unfazed by naked incubi draping themselves all over him, but _this_ made him twitchy?

“I know it doesn’t- mean the same things to you lot as it does to me, but- Yeah. Yeah.” Aster agreed with a grimace.

Jack’s eyes may have lit up. He was right! Aster didn’t court the same way the rest of them did. He considered repeating his earlier question, now that Aster had made it clear just what he thought dancing meant, but Aster looked so honestly uncomfortable that he decided he ought not. Not until he had a better idea of what other things might work.

It took him a while to find a good opening, because Aster was beginning his preparations for Easter, which made him a very distractable conversation partner, but after a few weeks, there was finally a bit of a lull in the gardening. Jack sprawled out on a grassy hill overlooking Aster’s googie-fields, with Aster sitting beside him, painting a few mock-ups on genuine hard-boiled eggs as the first of the googie sprouts poked their little green heads above the soil.

“So, hey, Aster, question for you.” Jack said, casual as you please. Aster hummed in response, which Jack took as a go-ahead. “If you were going to, you know, _court_ someone, how would you go about it, exactly?”

 _That_ got Aster’s attention. He looked up, paintbrush stilling to stare at Jack in surprise. “You’re courting someone?” He asked.

Jack puffed up his cheeks, torn between frustration, amusement, and triumph. On the one hand, it had been a whole year of effort, and Aster hadn’t even noticed, and that was kind of frustrating. On the other hand, he hadn’t even noticed he was being courted, even after all those gifts and innuendos and compliments, and it was hilariously adorable. On the other foot, Jack was right, and Aster hadn’t rejected anyone, he just _didn’t notice_ , because he was a giant reclusive weirdo.

“No.” Jack lied. “I’m not courting anyone, I was just curious.”

Aster gave him a deeply sceptical look. “Uh-huh. Just curious. Right.” Jack looked away, annoyed that he could feel frost spreading across his cheeks. There was a long silence, and when Jack glanced back at Aster warily, he saw him staring at Jack contemplatively. He was tapping the end of his paintbrush against his mouth. “Tooth?” Aster guessed dryly.

Jack spluttered. “What?”

Aster seemed to take that as confirmation. “Well, she’s a Sister of Flight, mate, so you’d have to dance for her.” He explained. Then he sighed a little, and went back to his painting. “I remember when she was trying to court North, back when I first became a Guardian, and then she told me a bit about it, later. Y’gotta dance to show off. Usually it’s the blokes doing that part, but she said she didn’t hold to that gender stereotype nonsense.”

Jack just stared at Aster, a little dumbfounded. He thought… she’d been courting _North_? Aster really was utterly oblivious, so much so Jack kind of suspected he was _allowing_ himself to be on purpose. Which didn’t say good things for Jack’s chances, but that was somewhat eclipsed by his worry, since to do that, there was probably something behind it that was upsetting Aster. He didn’t want to go poking at open wounds after all. To distract himself, he focused on something else for now. “Wait, what’s a Sister of Flight?” He asked.

Aster’s eyebrows flew up. “Huh, that’s right, you never got anyone else’s origin story, did you?”

“Well, Tooth said you were all someone else before you were chosen, but… no, I didn’t get any specifics.” Jack agreed.

Aster digested that for a moment, looking down at the egg in his hand, then nodded to himself. “You might want to wait until Tooth tells you herself, but I can give you the basics, if you want.” He offered, a little half-heartedly.

“Basics please.” Jack said at once, since he wasn’t actually courting Tooth, and didn’t think learning her background needed to be anything more special than what she’d told any other friend.

“Sisters of Flight were a race that lived on Earth before humans climbed down outta their trees. I was… asleep for a lot of that, actually, so I never actually met them. Only woke up after they’d gone into seclusion because humans were getting xenophobic.” Aster began thoughtfully. “Tooth is half-human, so pure-bred Sisters were probably more bird-like, I’m guessing, although I don’t actually know. The Tooth Palace is where they used to live, when they were still alive.”

Jack winced. “What happened to them?”

Aster shrugged. “Tooth didn’t want to talk about it, I didn’t push.” Jack could understand that, so he nodded, and Aster’s shoulders slumped a little. “Probably the same as any other genocide story. Somebody somewhere decided they’d been wronged, and the Sisters of Flight were to blame, so they had to go.” Jack wondered at the note of pain in Aster’s voice. He rolled over onto his stomach to prop his chin on his folded arms and stare up at him, considering.

“You weren’t human, before, either, were you?” Jack asked carefully.

Aster didn’t answer for a long moment. Long enough for him to finish the egg he was working on, set it in the basket full of painted ones, and pick up a new one. “No. I’m a pooka.”

“Pooka.” Jack repeated, testing the word. He kind of liked it. “And the rest are… gone, huh?”

Aster swallowed. “Yeah.” He admitted, voice going hoarse. Then he drew in a deep breath, visibly shoved the pain aside, and shot a decent attempt at a smirk at Jack. “Also, alien.” He added, and the smirk actually reached his eyes when Jack’s jaw dropped.

“No!”

“Yup.”

“Okay, that’s cool.” Jack decided. He considered everything he’d just learnt, then shrugged and threw caution to the wind. “I feel a little insensitive, but I’m still really curious, because you were _so twitchy_ at North’s party, so just tell me to, uh, ‘rack off’ if you don’t wanna answer, but how _do_ Pooka court, exactly?”

Aster blinked at him, startled, before a slow smile spread across his face. It was an unfairly lovely sight, and Jack might have blushed, a little. “Nah, mate, I don’t mind.” Aster said, almost sheepish. “Might even be… good, to talk about it. But that thing at the News Years party, that’s, uh… For a pooka, that’d be a little past what you’d call ‘courting’.”

“Yeah?” Jack prompted. “Wait, did I accidentally proposition you or something?”

So that’s what mortification looked like on a bunny. A pooka. In a word, it was adorable. “Something like that.” Aster confirmed, not looking at Jack at all, which Jack was a little glad for, honestly, because he was pretty sure he was coated in frost from hairline to navel, he was blushing so hard. “That sort of… circling? That was something we did to… to signal to a partner that we were- in the mood.”

Deep breath. Jack wasn’t going to think about Aster and signals and waltzes. Nope. He was going to have this conversation like the adult he wasn’t, and freak out about it later. In private. ‘“So… not quite like groping someone in public, but more like walking around in sexy lingerie?” Jack guessed.

Aster snorted. “Yeah.” He confirmed, sounding more amused than embarrassed now. Well, at least Jack was good for something. “And it was _very_ private. Maybe not quite so private as nuzzling and the like, which was… kind of like human kissing, I think? But much more _private_. We were… fairly reserved, in general, compared to humans. Most of our public courting was… very intellectual. On the whole- and I’m not saying it was the same all over, because it wasn’t, we were an empire that spanned galaxies, but where I grew up? Yeah, what people valued, and therefore tried to show off to a prospective partner, was creativity, innovation, artistry.”

“You… made stuff for each other?” Jack guessed.

“Sometimes.” Aster hedged. “More like… if you wanted to show interest in someone, you complimented their work, you _engaged_ with their work. Yeah, you might show off your own, but some of the more old fashioned pooka would say that just giving a prospective partner something you’d made was insulting, that you were saying they weren’t skilled enough in themselves.” He shrugged. “My little brother thought that was stupid, though. He was thrilled when his partner gave him a coat made just for him.”

“Holding doors.” Jack mused.

“What?” Aster asked, knocked out of his reminiscing by confusion.

“The whole… chivalry thing?” Jack prompted, but Aster, being a recluse, just looked more confused. Jack chuckled, shaking his head, and tried to summarise an explanation. “It’s gotten to be an _issue_ these days. Men holding doors open for women. Is it just a nice thing to do for someone you wanna treat well, or is it condescending bullshit implying the woman’s helpless? There’s not really a consensus on it, some people like it, some people don’t.”

“Oh, well, yes. Like that.” Aster confirmed, and Jack laughed again. Aster’s nose twitched at him. “More commonly, if you wanted to show interest, instead of just making them something, you’d… well, ask for their input? Invite them to work _with_ you on something, honour them in your work. My mum was an artist like me, and my dad was a poet, and when they were courting, Mum started adding calligraphy to her works, quotes from his poems and the like.” Aster reminisced.

Jack smiled at the memory, because it did sound kind of romantic. The smile dropped a little bit, though, as he actually ran over everything Aster had said. Because… that last little example had him thinking of fractal patterns on Easter eggs, and hours spent pouring over Aster’s sketchbook together. He remembered the way Aster had started asking about how he made his frost, and talk about maple leaves and supernova fractals.

“Aster…” Jack began slowly. Aster turned to him, eyebrows raised, completely oblivious. “Have you been courting me?”

Aster actually flinched a little in shock. The moment drew out, and he stared at Jack, looking completely taken aback and nonplussed. It went on so long that Jack began to wonder if he hadn’t misunderstood something, but then Aster’s eyes abruptly dropped. To look at his egg basket, Jack realised, and he looked, too. Yeah, there were frost-like fractals and little snowflakes everywhere, and a good deal more blue and white than any other colour.

Jack was distracted from studying the eggs when Aster cleared his throat. He looked up, and found the pooka not looking at him at all. Instead, he was staring down at his hands and fiddling with his paintbrush. “Ah, yeah. Seems… seems I have, at that.” He confirmed awkwardly, ears twitching restlessly between lying flat unhappily and perking up in interest. “I hadn’t realised that’s what I was doing, but… it’s not like I didn’t mean it-” Jack took a moment to decipher that double negative, and by the time he caught up and joy exploded like a starburst in his chest, Aster was already rambling defensively. “But if it bothers you, mate, then of course I’ll stop-”

Jack didn’t stop to think. He just scrambled up and slapped a hand over his mouth. “Don’t you dare.” He warned. Aster blinked at him, huge green eyes wide and startled and – because he was chronically, impossibly _oblivious_ – also confused. Well, Jack was going to fix that in a language the stupid pooka might actually understand.

Leaning forwards, Jack pressed his cheek into Aster’s and, well, _nuzzled_ him. Which actually felt kind of amazing, because his fur was really soft, and his whiskers were just the other side of tickling, which was bizarrely sensual, and he smelled amazing, like warm fur and spring. Aster made a sound like he was dying, but then, amazingly, nuzzled back, rubbing his nose and cheek and the corner of his mouth against Jack’s cheek and neck and the underside of his chin.

And then Aster’s mouth was on his. It was more than a little strange, because their mouths were shaped so differently, but it still worked, and the pleasant shivers that had been crawling over Jack’s shoulders at the nuzzling crackled down his spine and settled low in his gut. When they came up for air, Jack couldn’t stop grinning for the life of him. “ _Finally_.”

Aster scrunched his face up in annoyed confusion, which only made Jack’s grin wider. “What do you mean ‘finally’?” He demanded.

“I’ve been trying to get your attention for over a year now, Cottontail.” Jack informed him. “Flowers, chocolates, gifts, food, dancing. Human courting.” Aster didn’t respond, eyes glazing over as he ran back over the last year. Jack could _see_ the moment it dawned on him, the belated panic as he started going back over more than just the last year. It was practically visible in his eyes, the way he raced back over decades, centuries, possibly _millennia_ , reassessing so many different interactions with so many different spirits. “Yeah, it wasn’t _North_ Tooth was dancing for, by the way.” Jack added, because he would never not be a little shit.

Aster dropped his head to rest against Jack’s chest with a small whine of mortification. Jack laughed, but he also dug his fingers through the thick fur of Aster’s ruff in soothing strokes, because he wasn’t completely horrible. “How the bloody hell did I miss the fact that- they were all- _How_?” He demanded, desperate and almost plaintive.

“Not a clue.” Jack informed him, unrepentant. “So, next New Years party? If I promise we can find a private room right after, will you dance with me?”

“You’re a menace.” Aster complained. “Wanna show me off, ya bloody show pony?”

Jack grimaced playfully, even if Aster couldn’t see it. “Maybe a little bit.” He admitted shamelessly, and then went on to tease, because he just couldn’t help himself; “I don’t know if you’ve heard, Rabbiroo, but you’re quite a catch.”

“Ah, alright.” Aster sighed, lifting his head. Jack was delighted to see that he was utterly failing at holding back a smile. “You’ll have to teach me how you human-types do it, though, since I’ve never had a reason to learn before now.”

“I can absolutely do that.” Jack agreed at once.

“Figured you could, snowflake.” Aster agreed, making Jack blush at the new nickname, before he reeled him in for another kiss.


End file.
